Discovery collections

Formalin-preserved specimens from the extensive Antarctic Discovery expedition collections. Much of the collections remain unresearched as yet.

The Discovery collections originate from a number of different expeditions (1901-1999) and include a wide range of marine specimens that may be of use for ocean acidification research. The collection of pteropods may be of particular importance - if CO2 emissions were to continue unabated, southern ocean surface waters might be unsuitable for aragonitic pteropods by mid-century (Hunt et al. 2008).

The vast Discovery collections at the Natural History Museum represents a potentially valuable source of baseline information to examine whether calcification rates have already been altered in the southern oceans over the past century.

Possible caveats:

Nearly all Discovery calcareous organisms in the Zoology Department have been preserved in alcohol. Since alcohol can enhance shell dissolution, their research value is currently uncertain.

Most of the Discovery foraminifera collection comes from ocean bottom sediment grabs. It is difficult to know whether specimens were collected dead or alive - their collection date isn’t necessarily their date of death.

Geographical location covered:

Collections are primarily from the Atlantic, most notably from the southern Atlantic and Antarctic waters.

Plankton samples were collected from the south Atlantic and southern oceans between the 1920s and 1950s.

Timespan covered:

The collections begin with the expedition to the Antarctic in 1901-1904 and continue through the 20th century.

The most prominent research ships that made collections are:

RRS Discovery (1901-1931)

William Scoresby (1926-1950)

RRS Discovery II (1929-1951)

Discovery (1962)

Location of collections:

All the Discovery expedition collections are located at the Natural History Museum, London. They were moved here in the 1990s when the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences (IOS) relocated from Wormley to the National Oceanographic Centre at Southampton.

The foram slide collection and ocean bottom residues can be found in the in Palaeontology Department. All other specimens are housed in the Zoology Department or within bulk samples from the ocean bottom deposit collection in the Mineralogy Department.

Supporting information

Scientific reports on the taxa collected during Discovery expeditions are available online.

The Discovery foraminifera reports are in three volumes and contain a detailed list of the species collected - predominately from RRS. Discovery and William Scoresby. All of the listed specimens have been curated as slides and are stored in the Palaentology Department.

Besides the taxonomy, the most important feature of these reports is the station information where particular species were collected.